The subject matter disclosed herein relates to aircraft environmental control. More specifically, the subject disclosure relates to cooling of a cabin air compressor motor for an aircraft environmental control system.
Environmental control systems (ECS) are utilized on various types of aircraft for several purposes, such as in cooling systems for the aircraft. For example, components of the ECS may be utilized to remove heat from various aircraft lubrication and electrical systems and/or used to condition aircraft cabin air. The cabin air conditioner includes one or more cabin air compressors (CACs) which compress air entering the system, from an outside source or from a ram air system. The compressed air is delivered to an environmental control system to bring it to a desired temperature then delivered to the aircraft cabin. After passing through the cabin, the air is typically exhausted to the outside. The CACs are typically driven by air-cooled electric motors, which are cooled by a flow of cooling air typically drawn by the ram air system. The flow of cooling air and thus the performance of the electric motor and CAC is typically limited by the pressure drop from the CAC inlet to the ram air system. Such a limitation may result in reduced performance of the CAC.